Thieving Tandoori restaurant waiter threatened with jail

By Michael MacLeod

A TANDOORI restaurant waiter is facing jail for stealing customers’ credit card details when they were paying for meals.

Ansar Shahban, 25, was employed to serve food at Edinburgh’s Himalaya Tandoori in Bruntsfield Place last year.

When first charged with theft he denied all charges and was due to go to trial.

But he came clean today (Thursday) at the capital’s sheriff court, admitting illegally copying the details of credit and debit cards on three separate occasions between October 5 and November 15 in 2008.

Shahban, of Gorgie Road in Edinburgh, is not charged with using the cards, or spending any money with them, and was bailed.

A penny overdrawn leaves student £48 in the red

By Cara Sulieman

A STUDENT has been hit with a £48 bank charge for slipping into her overdraft – by A PENNY.

Cash-strapped Julia Turner thought she had £5 left in her bank account when she bought a T-shirt but in fact was only £4.99 credit.

Going over her limit by that single penny triggered the astonishing wave of charges.

The Bank of Scotland fined her a £20 administrative fee for going over her limit plus a further £28 “unauthorised overdraft fee.”

Beating the credit crunch with gold coins

By Cara Sulieman

SCOTS auctioneers are beating the credit crunch by cashing in on the rising price of gold and silver.

Lyon and Turnbull are getting ready for their upcoming silver and jewellery sale in May, and have already accumulated a mountain of gold sovereigns, worth £35,000.

The price of silver has increased by 30 per cent in the last five months – leading to an increase in the number of people flogging their precious items.

All sorts of gold and silver items, from gold sovereigns to silver candlesticks are going under the hammer to raise much needed cash.

Colin Fraser from the auctioneers said: “Silver is often seen as the poor man’s gold.

“As the price of gold increases on the bullion market so does silver, it is one of the best times to sell as there are plenty of customers out there eager to buy.”

“We are planning two silver sales to meet the demand, the first will be in May and the second, an exclusively Scottish Silver and Wemyss Sale, will be held in August.

“This follows the success of our Scottish Silver and Wemyss sale last year.”

The last time the auctioneers held their silver and jewellery sale a George III Irish presentation silver gilt snuffbox sold for a whopping £9375.